If Ships Could Speak
by Honorat
Summary: A series of conversations between the Dauntless, the Interceptor, and the Black Pearl. New chapter--a little angsty Pearl POV from the first movie.
1. Rivalry

One Shot: Rivalry

by Honorat

Rating: K

Characters: The _Dauntless_ and the _Interceptor_

Disclaimer: Pirate!

Summary: This has to be the strangest explanation I've ever heard for why the entire Royal Navy crew went over to the _Dauntless_ when Jack stole the _Interceptor_. Late answer to the "I'd do anything" challenge at Black Pearl Sails. 500 words.

Thanks, Geekmama for the beta read.

_

* * *

You must call them!_ The words of that bloody little upstart_, Interceptor,_ held a strain of desperation in them. _You must! They were yours first, and they will come to you. I can make them all leave, but only if you help me._

The _Dauntless_ towered over her younger compatriot, stately and imposing. _Why should I help you?_ she inquired haughtily._ You ask me to neglect my duty, betray their trust. Allow you to escape._

_But I must. Don't you understand?_ the smaller brig cried.

_No. Explain yourself._

The _Interceptor_'s sails quivered with a breath of painful laughter. _You will think me a fool. _

_I already do, _the older ship said dryly.

Ducking her bow in embarrassment, the _Interceptor_ confessed, _The moment he first set foot on my deck, I knew I had never been fully alive. The feel of his hands on my helm—it was like fire that burns but does not consume. The dark enchantment of his voice. No one has ever talked to me as he does. He told me I was his, and his telling made it so. To remain here were to be unfaithful. I love him. And I will go with him._

_He does not love you, you know_, the _Dauntless _replied cruelly. _He uses you to get to another_.

_I know,_ the _Interceptor_ admitted sadly. _But even to be his for just this one journey, to be the one he has chosen to take him to his beloved, is better than never knowing his touch at all._

There was a long silence when only the small waves lapped and the seabirds cried. Finally the _Dauntless_ said quietly, I_ understand._

A flash of enlightenment shivered through the _Interceptor_'s rigging. _Ah! So that is it. You want him for yourself. I cannot blame you. But he needs me. Needs my fleet wings and agile hull. You cannot help him._

That was truth. The _Dauntless_ acknowledged the hit.

The _Interceptor _waited a moment, but no further capitulation seemed forthcoming. She could not fail! _For his sake then, _she begged. _For him, and for our dark sister who waits for him to break her curse and who holds his heart._

The great warship shifted irresolutely against her moorings. Almost, she was convinced.

_They will all be yours then. The bold, shining commodore, the brave lieutenants, all of them_, the _Interceptor _suggested slyly. _Yours alone, as it was before I came_.

The _Dauntless_ brightened and dipped her bow. _There is that_. She paused, considering. _Very well. I will do as you ask._

* * *

And so, when the _Interceptor_ pressed her hot flank up against the great side of the _Dauntless_, every last man left her as though drawn by the songs of sirens. And while the _Interceptor_ strained frantically at her cables, two men dropped quietly to her decks from the _Dauntless_. 

A sigh shivered through the sails of the _Interceptor_; the lines holding the _Dauntless_ groaned. And then the bright stinging strokes of an axe set the little brig free. She leapt ahead before the last line parted, feeling it snap taut and then burst.

All her rigging thrummed and sang. All her sails filled with the wild free wind. For now, for however long it lasted, she belonged to Captain Jack Sparrow.

The End.


	2. Sisters

One Shot: Sisters

By Honorat

Rating: K+

Warning: Character death

Characters: The _Black Pearl_ and the _Interceptor_

Disclaimer: Pirate!

Summary: Sequel to "Rivalry." Virgo 79 wanted to see the meeting of the _Black Pearl _and the _Interceptor._ Extreme angst. Extremely late, extremely not a drabble, response to the "Tremor" challenge at Black Pearl Sails.

Thank you geekmama for the beta read.

* * *

The sea that had always cut so sharply clean before her bow felt like thick mud against her hull, resisting her attempt to fly. Her sails, from courses to topgallants, clawed at the wind, desperate for speed. But the shoals and safety seemed never to draw any nearer. She was not going to escape, this time. The _Interceptor_ was used to being the fastest ship, but the black nightmare behind her was inexorably drawing up on her stern. Even now, the _Black Pearl_ was running out her oars. Her gun ports were thudding open—so many more gun ports than the Interceptor possessed. How could this be happening? She had come to help her dark sister!

_Stop!_ the _Interceptor_ cried, her strained timbers groaning. _You don't have to do this!_

_I cannot stop!_ the great ship thundered, the echoes shuddering through the ocean. _Do you not understand? It is the curse!_

_But you have your captain now,_ the _Interceptor_ pleaded. _I brought him to you. What more can you ask of me?_

_I have him, yes. And I can scarcely touch him. Everything is a fog. I cannot speak to him. I cannot hear him. Why can I speak to you and not him?_ The _Pearl_ dashed her bow into the sea in torment.

_He loves you very much,_ the _Interceptor_ soothed her distraught pursuer, hoping to diffuse her wrath. _I am sure he would want me to tell you that._

_Love!_ the older ship spat bitterly, rattling her decaying spars. _What can love be to one such as I? You do not know the things I have done. You have no idea what I will yet go on to do._

_I have some idea, yes,_ the _Interceptor_ said, wishing she couldn't imagine, _but I don't think it will make any difference to him._ Of this, she was sure. The _Black Pearl_ could run her bowsprit through her captain's chest and it wouldn't make the least difference in that man's devotion to her.

_The only thing I can see clearly is the gold!_ the _Black Pearl_ cried, rejecting all attempted comfort. _You are carrying a piece of it, you know. Perhaps that is why I can see you. That cursed medallion is why I must do this. Why I cannot help but fight. The gold calls like a beacon in darkness._

Confused, the _Interceptor_ considered that cold little spot of hell in her belly. _But don't you see? The gold is darkness in the midst of sunlight,_ she said.

_For you, yes,_ the _Pearl_ snarled. _But I am cursed so that it is a spear of light on which I am transfixed. I cannot endure its pain. But I cannot live without that golden agony. To possess it is damnation. But I desire nothing more than to be damned. I am cursed, I tell you. Do not trust me._

_I don't,_ the little brig exclaimed fervently. _Can you not see I am trying to escape you? But you are too swift. How is that possible? Is it part of the curse?_

_No! I have always been the fastest ship._ The _Pearl_'s voice was bitter. _To think I once took delight in that—I remember, like a dream, the press of wind, rock-hard in my sails, the silver cold salt spray over my bow. My captain's hands on my wheel. The canvas clapping laughter in the heart of a storm. Oh God! How I long to feel again!_ she cried. Mists like tears rose off her hull.

The anguish of the great dark ship caught at the _Interceptor_'s heart. _I am sorry for you,_ she said.

_You will not be for long,_ the _Black Pearl_ said coldly, through her despair. _I will kill you if I must. I am a slave to that hell-born gold._

The _Interceptor_ flung up her masts spiritedly. _I will fight back._ Her starboard anchor grabbed the bottom of the sea slewing her prow around hard. The _Black Pearl_ would not be free to rake her stern, unopposed.

_Please do._ Even as the two ships drew abreast of each other, the dark ship seemed almost to beg. _Pain is the one thing I can feel._

"Fire all!" a human voice screamed. And the _Interceptor_'s deck's shook with the concussion of her cannon. Her sides shuddered with the impact of the _Black Pearl_'s shots. The sea rained hellfire and brimstone.

One voice came clearly through the pandemonium. "Stop shooting holes in my ship!"

The _Interceptor_ tried to obey.

Then everything was chaos and bright, sharp pain.

When the thunderous noise finally died away, the bewildered brig struggled to determine what had happened to her. She was badly injured—that, she could tell.

_It is back. The gold is here. Are you all right?_ The worried voice of the _Black Pearl_ drifted through a haze of smoke.

_Except for the fact that my mainmast is lying across your deck. I am alive._

_I am sorry. I did not mean . . . _the _Pearl_ trailed off. _When I fight, I cannot remember what I do,_ she said, her voice low and ashamed.

_You are very good at it,_ the _Interceptor_ said dryly.

_I wish I weren't._ The larger ship paused. _You seem to have fought valiantly yourself. Silverware? I have forks decorating my gun ports. How ingenious of you._ A breathy, shaking laugh shivered the _Pearl_'s tattered sails. _Do you know how long it has been since I have laughed?_ she asked wonderingly.

_Thank you._ The _Interceptor_ dipped her bow graciously. _I hope I did not hurt you._

_Not nearly enough. No,_ the cursed ship spoke vehemently, angrily.

_He asked me not to,_ the little brig explained.

_Who?_

_Your captain._

_You can hear him?_ Envy and longing laced those words.

_Yes,_ the _Interceptor_ said shortly.

_Oh._ The _Black Pearl_ considered the little ship beside her with dawning illumination. _Then you love him too._

_To my sorrow. His heart is yours._ The _Interceptor_ did not quite succeed in keeping her tone level.

_If I had a heart any more, it would be his,_ the _Black Pearl_ said softly. Her ravaged sails hung in limp dejection. She did not look like a victorious ship.

_You do have a heart,_ the _Interceptor_ responded earnestly. _Perhaps you cannot see it in that fog, but I can. He will break your curse, you know. That is why he asked me to bring him to you._

_It is not possible._ The _Pearl_ rocked in denial.

_He believes it is._ The _Interceptor_ smiled to herself and fluttered her shot-holed sails, remembering. _He's Captain Jack Sparrow! Savvy?_

_Now you sound like him._ Both a sob and a laugh were inextricably tangled in those words.

_Believe him,_ the _Interceptor_ urged. If any man could save that poor cursed ship, it would be he, she was sure.

_I will try._

There was no time for further conversation as rough, brutal strangers pushed the Interceptor's mast from the _Pearl_'s decks into the sea. Suddenly the little brig realized she was alone. The pirates had taken her crew and gone back to their own ship. They were abandoning her. She had never been alone before. Her whole hull shuddered. She wanted to call out for her captain, but he wasn't hers any longer. Fear washed over her decks.

Then she felt the first ominous pricklings. _Oh, please, no!_ she cried involuntarily.

_What! What is it?_ came the concerned voice of the _Black Pearl_.

_There is fire in my magazine!_ the _Interceptor_ whimpered, her sails quivering.

_Oh damnation!_ the _Pearl_ swore. _He does that sometimes. That rat bastard who commands me,_ she spat. _Oh, I am so sorry. I never meant for this to happen! You are so young. Please forgive me,_ she begged.

_I do forgive you,_ the _Interceptor_ assured her. _This is not your fault. Perhaps this is better than waiting here alone, sinking slowly._ She was trying to be brave.

_I am so sorry,_ the _Black Pearl_ whispered.

_It is all right,_ the _Interceptor_ insisted. _Just . . . keep talking to me. Please? I don't want to be alone._

_What can I say?_ The _Black Pearl_ asked, her voice rough with suppressed emotion.

What did she want to hear in her last moments? _Tell me about your captain. How did you find him?_

_Very well. If that is all I can do._ The _Black Pearl_'s voice grew gentle and low. _I can still remember. Of all the things I have forgotten. Of all the things I have lost. At least the gods have left me this. I have never forgotten my captain. He was not like all the others. You know how when most of them first come on board, they are like little lumps of land? They don't stick to your decks. The sea doesn't like them. No matter how you try to hold onto them, one of them is always washing over your rails or falling from your yards. No matter how gentle you are with them, they break so easily. And they cannot see or hear or smell or feel._

_Yes, I know. They are rather endearing at that stage._ The _Interceptor_ recalled her own young crews with a faint, heartened lift of her yards. _Thank you. It is good to remember._

_But he was different,_ the dark ship continued, a deep sigh shaking her ribbons of canvas. _As though a curl of sea had chosen to remain on my deck, a wisp of breeze had decided to linger and speak to me, a stroke of lightning had not skipped back to the clouds. And he, unlike the others, could see and hear everything. The sea and the wind loved him, and I loved him. I remember . . ._

_This is it!_ The _Interceptor_ broke in softly, her hull trembling. The fire had reached her barrels of powder. Only seconds remained. _When you can speak to him again, tell your captain I said good-bye. Tell him I would do it all again._

_Even this?_ The _Pearl_ asked, a tremor running from bow to stern.

_Even this._ The _Interceptor_ said firmly, her bowsprit and single remaining mast raised proudly. She might have been conquered, but she had not struck her colours. She would meet her end like a Royal Navy ship.

And then her world blew apart.

_No!_ The sea echoed with the _Black Pearl_'s anguished cry.

And on her decks their Captain stiffened as though shot through the heart.

The End


	3. Rescue

One Shot: Rescue

By Honorat

Rating: K

Characters: The _Black Pearl_ and the _Dauntless_

Disclaimer: Pirate!

Summary: Sequel to "Rivalry" and "Sisters." Felaine wanted to see the meeting of the _Black Pearl _and the _Dauntless._ As usual, the ships have more to say in the plot of PotC than one might think. Angsty, but with a happy ending. Extremely late, extremely not a drabble, response to the "Delay" challenge at Black Pearl Sails.

Thank you geekmama for the beta read.

* * *

Rescue

The _Dauntless_ was the first to recognize that one of the shadows hovering around the headland was a ship.

_Who are you?_ she challenged. _And what are you doing in my waters?_

_I am the_ Black Pearl, came the immediate response, clear and unafraid.

The _Black Pearl_. A cold breath shivered her sails. The ghost ship! Although she looked thoroughly and solidly real, now. That fleet and evil ship had terrorized the Caribbean for ten years, in spite of all the _Dauntless_ had been able to do. _I know your name, cursed one,_ she hissed, wrath burning in her bilges until she wondered that her powder magazine was not endangered. _Do not come nearer or I will destroy you!_

_I mean you and yours no harm._ The pirate ship spoke peaceably.

_Why should I believe you?_ the _Dauntless_ accused bitterly. _The last time you sailed into this harbour you tried to obliterate my town. You fired on my fort. The night was full of flames and screams and flying shrapnel. You draw death in your wake, black-hearted ship._

_You are right,_ the _Black Pearl_ said soberly. _I did commit those crimes. But I am not the ship I was then._

_Then explain your actions now,_ the _Dauntless_ demanded coldly. _Why should I not raise the alarm, run out my long guns and blast you into kindling?_

_My curse has been lifted,_ the _Pearl_ tried to explain. _I can no longer be forced to kill._

_But you_ can _still kill_, the _Dauntless_ snapped, her gunports quivering before the questing snouts of her cannon. They were scenting fire and blood and death. This ship sailed unashamed under the black flag. She was lawful prey.

_As can you,_ the _Black Pearl_ pointed out.

_Yes,_ the Dauntless said meaningfully, _I can_. She could feel her cannons itching along her sides. Just a little closer now and she could open fire on her enemy.

But the black ship did not come closer. Instead, she hove to, just out of range, still hidden in the shadows, her sails slatting gently, her lines limp. All of her gunports remained sealed and non-threatening. Then the _Black Pearl_, fastest and most treacherous of pirate ships in the Caribbean, dipped her proud bowsprit nearly to the surface of the sea in meek entreaty.

_Please,_ she begged. _You must let me approach. I have so little time_.

The _Dauntless_'s sails hung in slack-lined amazement. Nonplussed, she asked, _Time for what?_

_I have come to save my captain._ A tremor broke the _Pearl_'s words into shards of glass.

_Your captain?_ the _Dauntless_ asked, confused at first.

_Yes,_ the _Black Pearl_ explained, her voice like knives slicing the air. _He delivered me from my curse, and for his pains they are going to kill him. I cannot let that happen._

The _Dauntless_'s attention was drawn to the small bird, winging its flight from the tender, cradling hands of the _Black Pearl_'s figurehead. _Jack Sparrow is your captain,_ she stated. That meant he was the man the Royal Navy was hanging today. A chill crept up her masts. She would rather not have known that.

_He is. And he always has been. Across all time and beyond all seas he will always be my captain,_ the dark ship's voice was low and intense.

_If he lives,_ the _Dauntless_ said cruelly.

_Even if he does not,_ the _Black Pearl_ spoke sharply. _But oh,_ she begged, _you must let me try to save him._

_I cannot stop them from hanging him,_ the _Dauntless_ snapped.

_Nor can I,_ the _Pearl_ admitted. _I can only be there for him if he succeeds in flying free. He is such a one for flight. I used to believe he might spread wings and light out for the sun._ Hope warred with despair in her voice.

_Indeed,_ the _Dauntless_ spoke reflectively, _he does not have the feel of the earthbound about him._

_You have met him?_ The dark ship asked, brightening. _I should have known. He has paid court to nearly every ship in the Caribbean since we were separated ten years ago._

She did not sound as though this bothered her, the _Dauntless_ noted. In fact there was a hint of laughter in her tone.

_You, however,_ she continued, _I would have thought_ you _were above his touch. But I should have known. Then you must understand what kind of man he is! There is nothing beyond him!_

_I returned him to Port Royal in my brig. I sailed under his command on the passage to Isla de Muerta where he sought to lift your curse. And he was briefly aboard me before he left Port Royal to hunt for you with my little sister, the_ Interceptor, the _Dauntless_ explained coolly.

_Oh._ Something chilled in the dark ship's tone. _Of course. The _Interceptor.

_Have you seen her?_ The _Dauntless_ asked eagerly, ready to temporarily suspend hostilities for the sake of information. She had been surprised to discover she had missed the company of the smaller ship. _Do you know what has become of her? The two men who sailed her have returned, but no one has spoken of her._

_I do know,_ the _Pearl_ said quietly.

_Then tell me. Is she well?_ the _Dauntless_ pressed.

_She is dead._

The words hit like a shot in still water. Shock shivered through the _Dauntless_'s timbers. Surely it couldn't be true. Only a few weeks ago the little brig had been tugging at her moorings, longing for adventure, trifling with a pirate captain. So full of life and high spirits. A little annoying in her effervescent youth, but very dear for all of that.

But . . . dead?

_How?_ she asked, pain leaching all emotion out of her words.

_I killed her,_ the _Black Pearl_ said dully.

Rage coursed through every line of the Royal Navy warship. Every one of her hundred guns trembled.

_Then I will kill you!_ she hissed, her voice shaking.

_I am sorry,_ the _Pearl_ said humbly. _You have that right. I can only say, I would not have done so had I been given a choice. And the hand that lit the final fire that blew her magazine did so on the orders of that fiend from hell who held the chains of my curse. He is dead, now. My captain killed him. I felt the life leave him as it returned to me._

A great, quivering sigh shuddered the _Dauntless_'s sails as she fought to curb her emotions. She must remember that this ship had been cursed. Could the _Black Pearl_ still be blamed for the crimes of which she was guilty? The crimes forced on her by that madman, Barbossa? Perhaps not, but the _Dauntless_ knew she did blame her. However, an honourable ship would not act merely on those feelings. A great emptiness filled her, as though her holds were hollowed out and her hull was merely a shell.

_She was so young,_ the _Dauntless_ murmured brokenly.

_Yes,_ the pirate ship replied, the single word catching.

_I am glad your captain avenged her death,_ the _Dauntless_ said, although she wished she could have done so herself. Wished there were anything she could still do for her little sister ship.

_As am I._ The _Black Pearl_'s own voice was harsh.

_But I would still like to shoot something,_ the _Dauntless_ retorted, glaring at the dark ship, her yards rattling with her vehemence.

_I understand,_ the _Pearl_ said gravely, holding herself very still. _Perhaps you will yet get your wish, because I_ am _coming for my captain. There is nothing you can say to stop me._ There was no defiance in her statement—merely a bedrock firm assertion of fact. _He will die if I do not. And I do not choose to live without him._

_You are a pirate ship. He is a pirate. It is my duty to stop you,_ the _Dauntless_ informed her, the North Atlantic ice in her voice at odds with the warm Caribbean day.

_Duty is a good thing,_ the _Black Pearl_ agreed. _The earth must turn in her orbit, bringing dawn and dusk and the seasons' change. The stars must follow their courses through the night and speak our place in the universe. But oh,_ she exclaimed, wild clarions sounding faint and far off in her voice, _the wind must blow free, where it will! Would you really wish to live in a world without it? My captain and I are creatures of the wind._

For an instant the _Dauntless_ felt her sails stirred by a wind that had no relation to atmospheric conditions or the change in air currents. Like breath, it thrummed hauntingly in her rigging and stroked lightly along her hull. Suddenly the longing to slip her chains of anchorage and responsibility and to chase down the edge of the earth seemed almost more than she could bear. She shivered uncomfortably. This black ship might no longer be cursed, but she was still an enchantress, still a deadly enemy.

_You are dangerous,_ she insisted, staunchly resisting, _and I am a protector._

_Very true._ The _Pearl_ dipped her bowsprit in acknowledgment touched with exhaustion.

The _Dauntless_ remembered that she must be recuperating from ten years of hard use and what must have been a terrible race to reach Port Royal in time.

_Great storms are dangerous,_ the dark ship continued passionately. _Freedom is dangerous. And when I am a threat, you must protect._ The urgency rose in her voice. _But I swear by my love for my captain, I do not come to threaten this time!_

The _Dauntless_ remained silent and adamant. One false move by the pirate ship, and the Royal Navy ship would spill her gun crews to her cannons and blow that bloody boat off the face of the sea. She would. She must.

_It is almost too late,_ the _Black Pearl_ whispered, pleading. _Please. Let me go to him._

The great warship shifted uncomfortably at her moorings. How would she feel if it were her commodore whose life was at stake?

Suddenly a shudder ran through the pirate ship. Her sails strained taut and her rigging vibrated with distress. Recklessly she plunged into range of the _Dauntless_'s longest guns. _Oh God!_ she moaned. _They are hanging him! I cannot bear it if, after all we have been through, he is taken from me! _

She should fire. The _Dauntless_ knew she should. This grief-stricken ship would be no opponent at all in this moment. But she found she couldn't.

_I am sorry,_ she said. And she was, both for the bold, dark ship and for her vivid, fascinating captain.

_How can they do this?_ the bewildered ship cried. _He is a good man!_

The _Black Pearl_ spoke the truth. The _Dauntless_ knew it. A man could lie with his voice, but never with his hands. She had trusted Jack Sparrow to take her safely through that graveyard of ships to Isla de Muerta, and he had not let her down. He could never touch the heights of her love and devotion to her commodore, but a glowing ember in one corner of her heart would always be reserved for that dark stranger who had seduced her for one night of exhilarating terror and the most incredible voyage of her life.

_I know,_ she admitted quietly, feeling that small corner burn with her own pain.

Then the _Black Pearl_ lurched as though she were shot. The _Dauntless_ found herself looking to her cannons although she knew she had not fired.

_No!_ the black ship wailed, her anguish wrenching her spars and groaning in her deckplates as though she were fighting through the most severe of storms. The echoes of her cry battered the sides of the shocked warship.

The _Dauntless_ flinched. _Is he . . .?_ she asked breathless with dread, not daring to finish the question.

For a moment the _Black Pearl_ did not answer—seemed unable to answer. She shivered in on herself, almost seeming to shrink. Her entire hull shook with misery.

Suddenly, all the tension drained out of the dark ship. _No, he is not!_ she gasped, joy lighting her sails until the _Dauntless_ could have sworn the black turned gold. _I should have known._ Tears flooded her voice. _I should have known! He is Captain Jack Sparrow, and he always flies free._

Somehow, then, Jack Sparrow had escaped the gallows, the _Dauntless_ realized. But she knew her men, and she knew the pirate had not evaded death yet. They would pursue him with pure tenacity, drag him back to that place of execution and complete their mission.

She knew what she would do. It was illogical. It was illegal. It was against everything for which she had always stood. But she could not let that happen.

_Go to him,_ she said to the _Black Pearl._

_What?_

The poor dark ship was so overwrought she scarcely understood what the _Dauntless_ was offering her.

_Go, I say,_ the warship commanded patiently. _I am letting you pass. Do you understand?_

In response, the _Black Pearl_ fairly leapt forward, safe from the _Dauntless_ now, although soon to dare the long guns of Fort Charles. _Thank you!_ she cried over her starboard quarter. _Thank you!_

A blue winged dart, forerunner for the fleet ship, swept above the battlements of the fort. Indeed, the _Black Pearl_ was shelter for many winged things, the _Dauntless_ reflected. Perilous creatures, the lot of them. Chasing freedom as though it were life itself. Staring into the sun. Like sharks and hawks and thunderstorms, they made the world a more dangerous place, but perhaps, she mused, watching that glorious ebony ship with her sails like archangels' wings race towards her beloved captain, disdainful of her own life, perhaps it was worth it for the sheer wild beauty of them.

The sea was resounding with a more intense allure than the Royal Navy ship had ever felt before. The _Black Pearl_ was calling her captain, the _Dauntless_ realized. And that call paled the faint temptation she had thrown at the _Dauntless_ into near invisibility. This was a summons that no man could refuse. In it reverberated a decade of loss and despair, a lifetime of love and longing.

The _Dauntless_ was not surprised when the tiny figure of a man took flight off the walls of the fort. Nor was she surprised that that call had dragged him over the edge as though he were caught in a fierce wind. She merely wondered that only one man had failed to resist that siren song.

He hit the water in a froth of spray, disappeared for a moment, then popped back to the surface. Turning with blind instinct towards the source of that call, he caught sight of his ship and struck out, swimming strongly towards her.

The _Black Pearl_ hove to beside her captain, curveting and prancing in the white splash of the exuberant seas. Of course he did not climb aboard, as another man might have done. He flew, the _Dauntless_ saw in wonder. Flew straight into his lady's arms.

The _Black Pearl_ quivered with elation, all grace and pride and swift sweet motion, as though she were a newly commissioned ship wooing her first captain. But this was not some youthful coquette flirting with a new partner. This was one of the grand dames of the sea, one of the great tall ships, come apart and dancing before her longtime captain like the giddiest of schooners.

The _Dauntless_ almost expected to see the dark ship dissolve into light.

She felt an unexpected tightness about her heart. There was something so perfectly right about the two of them together. Something that should be let run free rather than shattered to pieces. Even now, the _Dauntless_ could feel her men's urgency. They wanted her to take that magnificent ship and her captain down. But her own commodore's heart was as torn as her own. He alone, she could influence.

They must still return to duty and honour. But just this once . . .

_I can give you one day,_ she called to the rejoicing pirate ship.

_What did you say?_ the _Pearl_ called back as though out of the depths of a dream, scarcely hearing.

_One day's head start,_ Black Pearl. _Will it be enough?_

_Oh yes!_ The dark ship exclaimed, laughter ringing through her rigging in bright arpeggios. _I feel as though I could circumnavigate the globe in one day! Thank you_ Dauntless. _I will never forget your kindness._

Her swift flight from the harbour lent credence to her delighted claim.

_Fair winds, sister,_ the _Dauntless_ murmured.

The _Black Pearl_'s faint reply drifted back over the shimmering sea as her tall dark sails filled, reaching out for the horizon: _He will be my fair wind indeed._

The End


	4. Shadow of a Dream

Tribble for the Challenge: Shadow of a Dream

Author: Honorat

Rating: PG-13

Pairing: Jack/Pearl

Disclaimer: Puts a chill in the bones how many honest writers have been claimed by this franchise.

Summary: I discovered these 300 words somewhere on my hard drive, and the Black Pearl Sails prompt for this week, Black Pearl, seemed to be a good use for them. This somewhat fits in with my If Ships Could Speak series. CotBP compatible.

Much thanks to Geekmama for the beta read.

* * *

Shadow of a Dream

Sometimes she dreams of sinking, of forever relaxing her seams and hatches and allowing the cool green water to bathe her tormented bulkheads and decks in darkness (she cannot feel the cold), growing heavier and heavier in her holds. She imagines her last sight of the sunlight on the sea—it is always daylight when she drowns. The rippling shimmers slowly become glowing rays of fractured light above her masts, gradually rising high above her as the shadows of the depths close in. She felt her last breath of wind long ago.

Then the weight and denseness will enfold her, embrace her, tighten and begin to crush her. Finally she will arrive drifting in broken pieces to her eternal rest against sand that she can neither see nor feel except as cessation of motion. Then the gold can call until her heart cracks. The pain can blaze through her timbers, her submerged sails can strain futilely, her screams can tremor the earth. But she will be safe. Safe in her self-imposed prison. Unable to kill for those cursed bits of metal ever again.

The images come to her in fragments. Frantic ships unable to outrun her, spitting their ineffectual fire in stinging gouts against her sides, water red with blood and flames. Great fortresses belching iron death through her decks, unaware that she cannot die. Towns echoing with roars and screams and then, worst of all, silence and the crackle of the inferno she always leaves in her wake.

Sometimes she wishes she could go completely mad, push herself beyond a knowledge of what she does, banish memory forever, blot out her awareness of what she has become—the slave of men enslaved by greed.

And yet she is held to the surface of the sea, to those last flickering splinters of sanity, by one fine thread—somewhere, she does not know where, out in the vast loneliness of the night, under the pitiless glare of the sun, her Captain still searches for her with freedom in his hands.


End file.
